1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a heart valve and, more importantly, pertains to a bileaflet biconical heart valve for surgical implantation.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior art heart valves have attempted to mimic the natural heart valve in the hemodynamic characteristics of the natural heart valve. Most importantly, the leaflets of the prior art heart valves have attempted to duplicate the rapid closure of the natural heart valve. This has not been closely attained by the prior art heart valves.
Some prior art heart valves have made attempts to have the tips of mechanical heart valves move outwardly in a manner similar to that of natural heart valves, but have been unable to accomplish this mechanically with respect to natural tissue movement of natural heart valves. The movement of the tips of the natural heart valve regulates the hemodynamic flow of the blood, as well as other characteristics of passage of the blood through the human heart.
Finally, the prior art mechanical or tissue valves have not been provided with an oval shape which approximates some of the existing natural heart valves. This is especially important as the average heart valve in an individual is not always round, but sometimes approximates an oval geometrical cross-sectional configuration.
The present invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art by providing a bileaflet biconical heart valve which duplicates the natural movements of a human heart valve, and closely approximates the hemodynamic flow through the heart valve. The bileaflet biconical heart valve can be manufactured with either a circular or oval geometrical crosssection.